Toronto mosque sorry about Web posts

The Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque on Nov. 14 e-mailed the Ontario region of the Canadian Jewish Congress to "apologize without reservation to the CJC and the Jewish community at large for any and all comments that they have found offensive on our Web site, which we never intended in the first place."

Teachings on the site, khalidmosque.com, refer to non-Muslim Westerners as "wicked," "corrupt" and "our clear enemies." To a query on whether Muslim women may wear high-heeled shoes, the posted reply is, "That is not permissible. It involves resembling the Disbelieving Women or the wicked women. It has its origin among the Jewish women."

The e-mail to the CJC, which was signed by Said Omar, acting chair of the mosque’s board, added that "All of the writings to which offense has been taken have been or will be removed from our site immediately."

Len Rudner, the CJC Ontario region director, said a meeting is planned with mosque officials. He said it was important to meet with mosque representatives "to understand how this material got onto their site in the first place."

Rudner noted that a past posting on the site referred to "Zionist influence" that is "morally, religiously, and ethnically destroying society after society."

Ron Csillag is JTA's correspondent in Toronto. He was a reporter for the Canadian Jewish News for 20 years. He is currently a freelance writer for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Religion News Service in Washington. He has a journalism degree from Concordia University in Montreal and has been awarded both a Lilly and Gralla fellowship in religious journalism.